Chapter 437: The Arrogant Zolgear

Takumi’s [Raphael, Lord of Wisdom] instantly analyzed the four godly weapons and formulated an excellent plan.

By fusing the Four Gods’ godly weapons together and turning them into a barrier weapon, he could fully bring out the power of the four divine beasts. Simply forging them into a single conventional weapon would be far too wasteful.

“I’ll refine them once I get back.”

After muttering to himself, Takumi waved a hand and brought the Nonaka sisters back to the Tama Shopping District, leaving Takashi Hayase alone with the corpses scattered across the ground and the enormous crater behind him.

A light breeze swept past, making his figure look especially desolate.

He had set out full of enthusiasm, only to get beaten like a dog and even lose the spirit spear Byakko. Takashi had no idea how he was supposed to explain any of this to the people back at the Village.

Meanwhile, after following Takumi back to the Tama Shopping District, the Nonaka sisters felt as though they had returned from another lifetime.

“It… really ended just like that?” Kurumi murmured, still looking somewhat dazed.

Takumi answered calmly, “What do you think would happen if a human tried to slide-tackle a tiger?”

“Uh…” Kurumi paused before answering, “They’d get eaten.”

“That’s exactly how simple the situation was. Did you really think there would be some dramatic twist?”

From beginning to end, Takumi had never taken those people tailing them seriously.

Kurumi fell silent at his answer, unable to argue with him. For a moment, she didn’t even know what she was supposed to do anymore.

Keep carrying out the Village’s orders?

What kind of joke is that? Whether I look at it rationally or emotionally, there’s no way I can do that.

Her thoughts were a complete mess. The cold, aloof demeanor she had shown earlier had vanished entirely, leaving her looking more like an ordinary vulnerable girl.

“Since things have come this far, let’s eat first.”

Yuki, on the other hand, was unusually calm now. Once she had chosen which side she stood on, the only thing she cared about was Takumi’s safety. Now that he was fine, there was nothing else weighing on her mind.

She picked out a chain burger restaurant and suggested that they have lunch there.

It wasn’t because she particularly liked fast food. Yuki simply believed that a place like this was where high school couples were supposed to eat.

Having grown up in the Village, she didn’t really understand what being an ordinary high school student was supposed to be like. However, with her keen powers of observation, she had noticed that the young people around them often chose places like this.

Yuki wanted to continue the date she had just been having with Takumi.

“Mmm~ All right.”

Takumi paused for a moment at her suggestion but didn’t refuse. Instead, he turned toward Kurumi beside them.

“Want to come with us?”

“Eh!? For lunch…?” Kurumi blinked in confusion before nodding. “O-okay.”

The two girls and Takumi entered the burger restaurant together.

Fortunately, Takumi’s cognitive interference magic was still active. Otherwise, a group like theirs probably would have attracted quite a bit of attention.

Perhaps because it had been such a long time since he’d eaten fast food, Takumi found that he actually didn’t dislike it.

“Mmm~ Not bad.”

He finished each burger in three bites, eating without the slightest hesitation.

The restaurant was fairly crowded today. Even though the three of them had chosen a corner table, there were still plenty of people nearby.

Yuki didn’t like noisy or crowded places, but almost all the surrounding tables were occupied by young couples. Across from her sat Takumi with his mouth stuffed full of burger, while beside her, Kurumi was wearing a rather silly expression as she nibbled away at her own.

The sight made a faint smile appear on Yuki’s normally icy, expressionless face.

She liked this feeling. It made her feel just like an ordinary girl who had gone out on a date with her boyfriend.

This kind of life was simply wonderful!

“Hmm? What is it?”

Noticing the smile on Yuki’s face, Takumi looked at her in confusion.

Do I really look that funny eating a burger? Why is Yuki, who’s usually so expressionless, suddenly smiling that happily? She looks like she’s having the time of her life.

Yuki immediately composed herself and shook her head.

“It’s nothing.”

Although she still wasn’t used to the taste of burgers or the prickling sensation of carbonated cola against her tongue, she wanted to engrave this feeling firmly into her memory and preserve it as one of the most important memories of her life as a high school student with Takumi.

Kurumi, who had been taking small bites of her food, gradually relaxed as well.

The mission she had been carrying seemed almost like a fleeting bubble now. She, too, tried her best to enjoy today and remember the time she had spent reuniting with Takumi.

While eating with the two sisters, Takumi had already split off a thread of his consciousness and completed the refinement of the Four Gods’ godly weapons inside the Space-Time Realm.

[Four Gods Barrier Orb]

The sphere, which had fused together the power of all four divine beasts, now floated in midair.

With a single thought from Takumi, Byakko, Suzaku, Seiryu, and Genbu instantly manifested.

Each one possessed extraordinary strength. Due to the limitations of the materials used in the godly weapons, their current upper limit was Super Demon Lord-class.

However, Takumi had also noticed a problem during the refinement process.

“These Four Gods created here in Japan were probably intended to correspond to wind, fire, water, and earth. The strength of the Four Symbols Barrier can still be improved. With the Four Symbols and Five Elements, it’d be best to create a Yellow Dragon to anchor the center of the barrier. That way, once this godly weapon is deployed, it could temporarily trap even someone at Chief God-class.”

Now that he had come up with a superior forging plan, Takumi immediately began modifying it.

Creating a new divine beast, the Yellow Dragon, wasn’t particularly difficult for him. After all, he wasn’t creating a genuine living creature, merely an existence similar to an artifact spirit, but while Takumi was busy personally crafting his godly weapon, something less pleasant was happening back at home.

At that moment, Zolgear, a demon marquis of the War Faction who possessed the power of an Ultimate-class demon, had arrived outside Takumi’s home with his retainers.

“Hahaha! It’s time! That newly appointed head of the Morax family really is a careless brat. He actually went off alone and left all his companions here! Hurry up and capture them!!!”

Zolgear was a muscular old man with a head of white hair and a pair of demon horns protruding from his head. A sinister smile spread across his face as he gave the order.

His retainers immediately surged forward and rushed toward Takumi’s residence.

Hearing the commotion outside, Tohru opened the door and stepped out, a puzzled look on her face.

Mio, Maria, Asia, and the others followed behind her and likewise saw the scene outside.

Maria immediately furrowed her brows, hesitantly glancing at the women beside her.

Tohru, however, asked with a perfectly serious expression, “Are you guests?”

“Hahaha~ Guests?” Zolgear let out a lecherous laugh. “Yes, we’re guests! Now hurry up and surrender obediently and become my captives!!”

His greedy gaze swept across Tohru and the others.

There was no doubt about it. Every last one of these women was a top-class beauty!

Zolgear could already imagine what a wonderful sight awaited him once he captured them.

“How disgusting. I guess you’re not guests after all.”

Zolgear failed to notice Tohru’s expression turn ice-cold in an instant.

The next moment, an immense draconic aura erupted from her body, crashing down upon Zolgear and his charging retainers with the crushing weight of massive mountains.

…